The Mistletoe Contract
by Blue Lace Agate
Summary: Take a down-on-her-luck dancer and a grumpy CEO in need of a date. Add in an irrepressible little brother, some meddling friends, a PR meltdown in the making, lots and lots of Christmas, and an arrangement that seems like the perfect solution. But will it last any longer than the holidays? For anyone who ever wanted to see Seto Kaiba trapped in a Hallmark movie. Azureshipping.
1. Home for the Holidays

There was a bite in the November air that made Téa pull her peacoat a little tighter around her. She knocked on the door again, but before she could even pull her hand away, it swung open, spilling light and warmth onto the front stoop.

"Téa!" Yugi stood in the doorway with hair as impossibly big and spiky as ever and a smile that felt like home. Some of the tightness in her chest eased away. "Come on in!"

The smells of cranberries sauce, pumpkin pie, fresh-baked rolls, and turkey wafted through the game shop air, floating over the noise and clatter of too many people talking, working, and moving about in the same space. Through the din, Téa caught familiar voices.

"Joey, I don't think potato chips are really a Thanksgiving side dish."

"Heh, you haven't had potato chips like these before."

"As long as there's no candy bar casserole, I'll allow it."

The edges of her mouth tugged upwards. It was good to be back.

* * *

Téa wasn't entirely sure how they all crowded around the battered kitchen table—even with the card table stuck on the end—covered in a festive tablecloth. Grandpa Muto presided over the turkey at the head of the table, brandishing an enormous carving knife. Yugi sat beside him, while across the table were Rebecca and Professor Hawkins. Tristan, Serenity, Joey, and Mai rounded out the party. Bakura was still in Oxford—Thanksgiving wasn't exactly a thing on the University's calendar—and the Kaiba brothers had declined the invitation.

"Rich boy probably has some fancy-pants cocktail party to go to," Joey put in with a roll of his eyes.

"Maybe they just like to celebrate together as a family," Serenity objected, giving her brother a look.

"Sure, give him the benefit of the doubt, why don't you?" Joey grabbed another roll and piled it on his plate.

"Duke was going to come," Rebecca told her, "but he went to Vegas instead." She made a face.

"His loss," Tristan said, loading up his plate with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, and throwing an appreciative glance Serenity's way. Tea had to hide her smile. Some things never changed.

"So, where's Ethan?" Mai asked as she sliced open her roll and buttered it. "I heard we were going to get to meet him."

Téa's gut lurched. Suddenly, she had absolutely no appetite whatsoever. "He couldn't make it," she mumbled. Her eyes dropped to her empty plate.

"Oh, is everything okay?" Serenity asked. Her warm hazel eyes oozed concern.

No, nothing was alright. The wave of grief, anger, and shame came crashing back over her. She twisted the cloth napkin in her lap. "Well, actually," she managed, feeling like every word was being forced through an iron grate, "Evan and I broke up."

There was the predictable chorus of gasps and sympathetic noises. Téa closed her eyes. Soon would come all the usual questions and the well-meaning comments. She didn't want to hear any of it. Didn't want to deal with it. What she really wanted was to be back on her couch in her apartment, eating peanut butter swirl ice cream, watching Hallmark Christmas movies, and crying her eyes out. But it was either this or face her extended family at her grandmother's house. This, at least, was bearable.

"Thanks," she murmured, "but I really would rather not talk about it, if you don't mind." She looked around the table, desperately searching for a conversation topic. "Um, Serenity, how's college going?"

"Oh, you know." Serenity looked a little off-put at Téa's dodge, but she accepted it. "We nursing students are always running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Break couldn't come soon enough." Tristan started nodding his head in agreement until Téa noticed, and he froze.

"You said it," Rebecca chimed in. "I think my professors are determined to kill me."

"I'm sure they simply want to push you to do your best," her grandfather replied.

Rebecca snort. "What they want is for me to _not_ write my dissertation about the existence of Atlantis or about the history of Duel Monsters in Ancient Egypt." She sighed and adjusted her glasses. "The history department at Princeton could be a little less conservative, but that's everywhere I suppose. I'm still considering what I do want to write about."

The conversation moved along to other topics, and Téa breathed a little easier, having successfully diverted attention away from herself. It didn't help the gnawing emptiness inside her any, although hearing the stories about Mai's dueling tour overseas or Yugi's recent charity work was a decent distraction. There were even moments, when the room was full of laughter and smiles, that she even felt at peace.

* * *

"If the KC website crashes, the IT department is not going to be getting a Christmas bonus this year," Seto Kaiba barked grimly into his cell phone. He refreshed his browser. So far, the site looked good, but as soon as the Black Friday sales went live, all hell was going to break loose.

"Seto, aren't you even going to eat any turkey?" Mokuba complained. He was stretched out on the black leather sofa with a plate loaded with enough stuffing and sweet potato casserole to feed the entire population of Domino. "Miracle on 34th Street" was playing on TV. At least it was the good black-and-white version.

"How can I when all you've left is the bones?" he called back wryly, putting his hand over the microphone. A balled-up napkin sailed over the edge of the couch in his general direction.

"C'mon, Seto, it's Thanksgiving."

Seto sighed, but he finished up the call. He added sautéed asparagus, potatoes au gratin, and, yes, turkey to his plate and joined his brother on the couch. Maureen O'Hara was in the middle of firing the drunk Santa from the Thanksgiving Parade when his phone buzzed again. Mokuba threw him a look. "It's a holiday. And don't tell me it's just a made-up Hallmark holiday, because we've talked about that already and you know it's not."

"It might be a holiday, but it's also a very important business day for KaibaCorp," Seto reminded him. "We're projecting to sell over two million of our new Duel Disk models over the next two days. And then there's the beginning of the Christmas season at KaibaLand, which you are supposed to be overseeing, Mr. Vice President…"

"Everything's running perfectly smoothly," Mokuba informed him. "And it will continue to run smoothly whether or not you eat that turkey or you let it go cold."

The kid had a point. But the phone kept buzzing, so he answered it. He had expected Roland, or perhaps the head of the online sales department. But instead, it was Ed Stuart, the publication relations specialist the company had brought aboard only a few months ago.

"What can I do for you?" Seto wanted to know, trying to hide his annoyance.

"Well, I sure am sorry to disturb you at home, Mr. Kaiba, but I have to say, I'm surprised to find you here."

"Where else would I be?"

"Ah." From the note of satisfaction in Ed's voice, Seto had the feeling his question played perfectly into the man's hands. "I had thought perhaps you'd be at the Biltmore right now, for the Season of Thanks Gala."

Ah, that. The invitation for the black tie event, which gave millionaires, politicians, and celebrities some soft-focus press coverage in exchange for generous donations to big-name charities, had arrived several weeks ago, but Seto had never entertained the slightest intention of going. "I prefer to celebrate with my family," he told the publicist firmly. "At home."

As far as he was concerned, the conversation was over, but the publicist wasn't done. "With all due respect, Mr. Kaiba, you're making a mistake. You are the face of the company. Your reputation is the company's reputation."

"Is there something wrong with my reputation?" His tone was perilously frosty, but publicist seemed impervious to it.

"Not per se, no, but the trouble is, you haven't given the public much chance to get to know you, not recently. When you reinvented KaibaCorp as a gaming company, that change was accompanied by your rise in the international dueling community as a shining star. Your wins, and even your losses, and your very public rivalry with Yugi Muto kept KaibaCorp's name out there. But it's been several years since you last dueled in public. You don't give interviews, and you rarely attend events that will be covered by the media."

"I value my privacy," Seto said. "We've discussed this."

"Yes, sir, but you also value your company. If you give the media a little face time, I guarantee that KaibaCorp's stocks will see a corresponding rise. However, if you continue to lurk in the darkness…"

Oh, for pity's sake. Seto glanced over at his brother and bit back the curses that rose to his tongue. "Fine. Sign me up for a photo-op or two. Maybe a Christmas party." _Just shoot me now,_ he thought. "One with vodka, preferably. Now, if you don't mind, I have a turkey to eat."

* * *

Pumpkin pie absolutely smothered in whipped cream was almost a cure for a broken heart, Téa thought as she went into for her fourth forkful. She let her mouth fill with pure Thanksgiving goodness, and tried to push all thoughts of her erstwhile boyfriend out of her head. He wasn't worth it.

She'd even revived enough over the course of the evening to give a description of her life in New York without dissolving into puddles of tears. Mai and Serenity oohed and aahed over every detail as if it was much more glamorous than it really was, which was gratifying, even if she suspected they were mostly trying to make her feel better. After all, Mai was a world traveler, and she'd definitely spent plenty of her own time in Manhattan. Still, it was nice to have people impressed by her. That wouldn't have been the case at her family's Thanksgiving, that was for sure. Broadway might have been what Mom'd always wanted for her—once she realized Téa was stuck on dance lessons, anyway—but chorus parts definitely weren't, and neither were the waitressing jobs Téa used to fill in the gaps between gigs. Actually, the waitressing paid better than the dancing, truth be told.

Evan would have impressed them. Mom'd only met Evan once, but she'd gushed about how handsome and charming he was ever since. Yeah, well, Mom wasn't the only one he'd charmed, was she? Besides, Téa was pretty sure that his bank account had a lot to do with the magic he'd worked over her parents, that, and his job at a prestigious Wall Street firm.

She still had to break the news to them sometime. Téa put down her fork, the luscious pie suddenly tasting like mud. That was going to suck like nothing else, wasn't it? It was bad enough having to break up with her boyfriend of over a year and completely rearrange her life and all her future expectations, but dealing with Mom chewing her out for how she let the best thing she ever had get away from her and relentlessly trying to fix her up with anyone she could find was going to absolutely be the worst of it.

Maybe she could go away for the holidays. Someplace festive, like Antarctica, maybe.

* * *

It was sometime after eight, when Mokuba was in a full-out turkey-and-pie coma and the movie had changed to "Jingle All the Way, when Seto's phone buzzed again. He was currently looking over the early sales figures—the Black Friday deals had gone live on the KC website two hours ago—and he ignored it for a few minutes.

When he did look at it, his eyebrows skyrocketed. It was a schedule of "suggested" events he attend between now and January. It had over twenty entries. "What the…"

At least half of them had an asterisk next to them. "Optional," Seto guessed, relaxing fractionally as he scrolled down to trace the asterisk. Ed probably wanted him to pick out a few he was interested in from the asterisked list. He doubted he'd select as many as the publicist wanted him to, but at least the man realized there would be some give and take to this arrangement.

Then, he found the asterisk. "Bring date," it read.

Seto blinked at it, then scrolled back up, looking at the list of events. "Call Ed Stuart," he barked into the phone.

* * *

Joey whirled around the room, stretching his hands over his head.

"Kuriboh!" Serenity shouted.

She got a dirty look from her brother. "Kuriboh? Are you kiddin' me? I—"

"Ah-ah," Mai tutted, wagging a finger at him. "No talking, Joseph."

Grumbling under his breath, Joey continued his performance. Was that a pirouette? He had his hands pointed over his head again. Now he was waving one around.

"Celtic Guardian," Tristan guessed, but Joey shook his head.

"Um, Little Swordsman of Landstar?" tried Rebecca.

"Red Eyes Black Dragon?"

Joey was getting increasingly frustrated. He put his hands on his hips and rocked them provocatively. Then, he blew a sultry kiss in the audience's direction.

"Harpie Lady?" Mai asked dubiously.

Joey scowled, red in the face. He twirled again, waving his right arm around. Then he pointed at Yugi.

"Yugi?" Grandpa Muto said. "But Yugi's not a Duel Monster…."

"Dark Magician?" Yugi guessed.

This earned a better reaction from Joey. He nodded vigorously, then twirled again. He blew another kiss—this one distinctly in Mai's direction, Téa thought. "Dark Magician _Girl_ ," she said.

"Thank you!" Joey flung himself back in his seat. "Who da heck wrote Dark Magician Girl down?" he demanded.

"Is there something wrong with Dark Magician Girl?" Rebecca demanded.

"She is a pretty well known monster, Joey," Yugi contributed mildly. "The rules just said it had to be one that everyone knows…"

"Unless you have an issue with female monsters." Rebecca arched an eyebrow aggressively.

"No," Joey muttered. "I ain't got any problem with females at all…"

"I think it's your turn, Téa," said Serenity, stepping in to save her brother from further trouble.

Téa made a little face. She really didn't feel like trying to act out a Duel Monster right now. "Can I pass?"

"What? No way!" Joey protested. "After I just made a fool outta myself—"

"You didn't make a fool out of yourself; you were just born that way, hon." Mai stood up, smoothing her miniskirt with an elegant motion. "I'll go."

Téa smiled her gratitude at the blonde, and did her best to make up for her refusal to act by guessing as much as she could. Since she had somehow drawn Harpie Lady—Téa suspected sleight-of-hand—her turn didn't take long. Rebecca went next, pantomiming Mystical Elf, and then Serenity went with Kuriboh. After that, Tristan's attempt to get everyone to guess Blue Eyes White Dragon had everyone in stitches, and the game broke up amid laughter.

"Well," said Serenity, wiping tears away from her eyes, "I think I am going to head out now. Gotta get some sleep if we're going to get up at 2."

"Are you really getting up at 2 am?" Téa asked.

"What, you're not going to come with us?" Serenity looked disappointed. "Mai and I just sort of figured you would."

Téa glanced over at Rebecca, but she was shaking her head. "Nope. These brain cells don't function before 5 o'clock. I'll hit some online sales tonight, but Cyber Monday's where it's really at."

"And the boys?"

Mai snorted. "Do you want to try to get Joey out of bed before the break of dawn? Trust me, it's not a pretty picture."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that too," put in Tristan.

"I think Grandpa was hoping we'd help him get all the Christmas decoration up on the game shop," Yugi said. "He can't really climb up the ladders and such like he used to."

"Hey, I may be old, but I'm not dead yet," protested Grandpa, but Téa noticed he didn't protest much.

"All right," she decided suddenly. "I'm game." Maybe a crazy Black Friday shopping trip with her girls was exactly what she needed. After all, people kept telling her she needed to do new things, things she never used to do with Ethan. Ethan would have absolutely hated the idea of her tramping around a department store in the middle of the night to save some money. "See you in the morning."

* * *

"Look, I know the schedule is a little on the aggressive side," said Ed Stuart, "but I think you'll agree that something worth doing is worth investing the time to do it well."

"Don't bullshit me, Stuart." Seto rubbed his temple. "There are over twenty events on this schedule, in less than forty days. Do you seriously expect me to have time to attend all of these? I'm an extremely busy man. My time is valuable."

"I assure you that I understand that, Mr. Kaiba." Ed's voice was as smooth as butter, and as slippery. "But crafting the desired public image after spending so long out of the spotlight is going to take a concerted effort." He sighed. "I do appreciate your concerns, however. I will go back over the list. Perhaps I can pare down a few of the dates."

"Speaking of, that was not my only concern with your list. Most of those events said 'bring a date.'"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. "And that's a problem," the publicist said finally.

Sudden embarrassment washed over Seto, swiftly followed by anger over being embarrassed. "Like I said, I'm a busy man. Relationships aren't something I've had time for." He'd only been a little busy building a gaming empire, developing a billion-dollar theme park, running highly acclaimed tournaments that raised KaibaCorp's visibility, and trying to make sure his little brother had something of a childhood. When he wasn't getting sucked into the vortex of insanity that seemed to follow Yugi Muto around, or trying to rescue Mokuba for the umpteenth time, that was.

"…so finding a date for these events _is_ a problem."

Seto squeezed his eyes shut. If this man made a crack about him having his priorities in the wrong order or about the improbability of the Seto Kaiba being dateless, he swore he would fire him.

To his credit, however, Ed Stuart did neither. "Hmmm." He sounded genuinely contemplative. "Let me ponder this. It's a bit more complicated than I expected."

"How is it complicated?"

"Well, the obvious solution, of course, is we hire someone. Or multiple someones. But even a robust non-disclosure agreement doesn't always stop leaks, and of course, suing the girl afterwards won't do much to stop the bleeding."

Seto suddenly felt like he had just gotten off a tilt-a-whirl. Hire someone? Why was that the obvious choice.

"Besides, if you make the kind of splash we're hoping for, the first thing the rags are going to do is try to find all about the lady you're stepping out with. If we go with someone from any kind of agency, that's going to show up right away."

"Agency?" Seto echoed, feeling stupid. He shook his head to clear it. "Hold on. Why can't I simply attend these events by myself. Or maybe with Mokuba, if the occasion's appropriate?" His younger brother was cute, approachable, very-public relations friendly, after all. Besides, Mokuba would have much more fun going to holiday parties and Christmas tree lightings than he would.

Again, there was a pause. Seto couldn't decide whether he had shocked the man into silence, or he was simply trying very hard to parse his words. "I don't think that would be the best idea, sir," he said finally. His voice sounded a little strained.

"Why not?" Seto was frankly exasperated by the man's talking in circles. Why couldn't he just flat-out say what he meant?

"Well, the rumors, frankly."

"Rumors?" A muscle in Seto's jaw twitched. What was this man gibbering about?

"W-well, you can't be unaware of the fact that your name has been linked in the past with Yugi Muto's."

Seto's eyes narrowed. "What does my rivalry with Yugi have to do with anything?"

He could hear the man swallow on the other end of the line. "Um, well, that is, some people believe that your association may be of a more personal nature."

"What?" At first the word was pure confusion. Then, the penny dropped. _"What?"_

Ed Stuart sounded apologetic. "I don't make the rumors, sir, but..."

Seto could hear what he didn't want to say. Being seen in public with a date, a female date, would start to dispel those rumors without KaibaCorp ever having to address them.

"Assuming that's not a signal you want to send to the public. I mean, the cultural climate certainly has shifted dramatically over the last several years, and if you'd like to make a different sort of statement…" the publicist trailed off. Even over the telephone, he could somehow sense the bone-chilling glare being sent his way.

There was a moment of dead silence, and then Seto said, "Well, I have no intention of going to any of these events with Yugi Muto—or any other man, just in case that wasn't perfectly clear." He kneaded the bridge of his nose in a colossal effort to keep his temper. "I won't say that I can't see the value of going to one or two of these events with a date. Surely that can be arranged without too much trouble," he said stiffly. Yeah, needing to have a date "arranged" for him. That sounded real straight. He cleared his throat. "But I don't see why I need a date for all of them—" He kept talking as the publicist tried to protest that it wasn't all of them "—or why I can't simply bring my brother to something like this Christmas tree lighting."

The publicist sounded absolutely miserable. "There are other rumors."

Seto felt his jaw go slack. His stomach plummeted, and he suddenly felt cold and then hot all at once. He felt sick and simultaneously angrier than he had ever been in his life.

"Look, I'm not the one who's saying these things," Ed Stuart scrambled to say, sounding like he was afraid Seto was going to flay him alive with the power of his mind alone. To be fair, if he could, he probably would.

He ground his teeth and hauled in a deep breath. "…I don't even… I refuse to dignify that kind of sick delusion by even…"

"Of course," Ed soothed. "Of course not. I only meant… you can clearly see that this is no little matter we're dealing with."

He hated this. He hated it with every fiber of his being. But he hated the idea of people saying those kinds of things about his brother even more. This was a battle of public opinion. This man, as loathsome as he was, knew how to fight it. He sighed. "Looks like I need a girlfriend."


	2. Silver Bells

A/N: I hope the texting in this chapter is clear... I played with a lot of different ways to represent it, and finally settled on this as the best I could do. I REALLY wish would consider allowing colored text.

* * *

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…"

Serenity laughed. "Is it all the decorations you're referring to or the crowds?"

Téa grinned back. "Oh, I don't know," she teased. "There's just something about teeming masses of people all shoving each other and jockeying for position that feels like home."

"New Yorker," Serenity accused her with another laugh.

Téa accepted with a cheeky grin, but the truth was, she knew she wasn't really a New Yorker. Sure, she'd lived in the city for a few years now, but the city hadn't sunk into her blood, not quite. She'd seen firsthand the way some people fell head over heels for it, and seen the way it sucked others in and didn't let go, like an abusive marriage. But not her. She flirted with New York, but it wasn't more than a fling. Domino felt like home more than she cared to admit.

Too bad all her dreams were elsewhere.

She shook herself free from her musings. Serenity had grabbed a plaid scarf off a rack and was holding it up against her throat, while Mai's attention was momentarily caught by a display in the fine jewelry department. That was right. They were here to shop.

* * *

It was after eight, when the sun was golden with just a hint of rose in the blue sky, when the shoppers trudged home. Mai declared her intention to sleep until noon. "After all, you don't maintain looks like these by skimping on beauty sleep." She tossed her blonde mane dramatically.

Téa and Serenity both laughed and rolled their eyes, but Téa couldn't stifle a yawn. "A nap sounds really lovely," she admitted.

"Just don't sleep through the Christmas tree lighting," Serenity chirped.

Téa glanced at her. "Hmm?"

"You know, the annual Christmas tree lighting in the town square," Serenity said. "Honestly, Téa, you're the one who grew up in this town, not me. I was six when I moved away."

"Oh, yeah, the Christmas tree lighting," Téa mumbled. Sure, she knew what it was. The dance studio had done a performance or two for it over the years, plus there were always posters plastered on the school hallways and coffee shop corkboards. But she hadn't given the event a second thought since, well, the last Christmas she'd spent in Domino. It wasn't really anything to get excited about, after all. It was just a big tree with some lights on it.

"You are going to go, aren't you?" Serenity asked anxiously.

"I don't know, Serenity," Téa said hesitantly. "This morning's already taken a lot out of me, and my flight leaves at 5:00 am tomorrow, so I really need to get some rest."

"Oh." Serenity's face fell. "Um, are you sure?"

"Actually," Mai put in, "I don't know if I am going to make it, either."

Serenity whirled, dismay written all over her pretty face. "What? But you have to go to the tree lighting, Mai!"

"Oh honey, I really, really don't." Mai ran a hand through her hair. "Thanksgiving was great, and you know I love shopping with you girls, but I'm a little peopled out right now. I think I'd rather spend the day ringing in the Christmas season my own way, with a bottle of pink chardonnay and a peppermint bubble bath. "

"That sounds amazing," Téa sighed in appreciation. "Remind me to pick up a bottle on my way home."

Serenity was getting more and more upset by the minute. "You guys can't be serious."

"Hon, I'm always serious when it comes to wine."

Serenity looked like she might cry—or slap someone. Téa decided to take a more soothing approach. "Come on, Serenity, is it really that big a deal? The tree-lighting can go on without us, after all." She smiled. "Nobody will even miss us. You should go, if you want to, though. It does sound like a festive occasion. I'm sure Joey would go with you—or Tristan." Téa winked at her, but Serenity either didn't notice or was too upset to care.

"It is a big deal," she insisted. "I can't believe you guys aren't coming."

Mai and Téa exchanged a look. Is this really happening right now? What is her deal? "Serenity, why is this so important to you?" Téa asked.

"It just is." Her cheeks were flushed almost as red as her hair. She waved her arms melodramatically in an utterly empty gesture. "I can't explain it."

"Oh, come on," Mai drawled. "You're going to have to do a little better than that." Her arms were crossed over her chest. Mai didn't have quite as much "conciliatory" in her personality.

Serenity bit her lip and tossed her head in another gesture that would have looked better on a rebellious teen or in a soap opera than it did on her. "It's just… Christmas."

"Christmas?" Mai echoed skeptically.

"Yeah, it's like the Christmas tree-lighting officially kicks off Christmas, you know? All the lights, the carol-singing, the candles. It's a _special_ time." She drew out the emphasis on the word special.

Téa tried not to roll her eyes. She'd been to plenty of Domino's Christmas tree lightings. They weren't all that special.

Mai, on the other hand, didn't try. "Yeah, it's about as special as getting pictures taken with a mall Santa." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the "North Pole" in the center of the mall. "Wanna go do that instead?"

Serenity stamped her foot. "No, I do not." Her face was practically aflame, and so were her eyes. "I can't believe you! You're impossible!"

"Look, you're the one blathering on about Christmas trees as if the world is going to stop turning just because we didn't turn up at some podunk lightning ceremony."

Téa winced. "Guys, do we really have to argue about this?" Actually, she had a bad feeling that they were totally past the argument stage, and into a full-blown fight. Great, she'd avoided her family at Thanksgiving, but still ended up right smack dab in the middle of a nasty fight.

"Apparently, we do," Mai said, tossing her head, "because Serenity thinks that Christmas is a magical time of sparkles and hot cocoa and rainbow reindeer poop where everyone just does crap 'because Christmas.'"

"You are being so completely unfair and ridiculous right now," Serenity snapped back. "As if there's something wrong with me wanting the people close to me to be there when—"

"When what? Some dumpy mayor flips a switch and a chorus of snot-nosed kids butchers 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas?'"

"It's not about that." Serenity was practically crying by now. Téa was realizing that she'd never actually fought with Serenity before. She'd seen her cry before, seen her much more upset than she was now, but in a completely different way. Utterly devastated and shattered because she was trapped with a psychopath who was intent on destroying everyone in his path, including her brother, was very, very different than mad over her friends ditching the Christmas tree lighting.

Why was she so mad, anyway? It was entirely out of proportion. Téa could understand, maybe, if it was a treasured holiday tradition, but Serenity had just admitted a few minutes ago that she hadn't even grown up in Domino. Aside from maybe a couple of times before she was in first grade, Serenity would have been a high schooler before she even went to the Christmas tree lighting at all. It didn't make sense.

Rationality, however, wasn't going to find a warm welcome at the moment, Téa suspected. She tried to put on her best "understanding" face, the one she used when customers complained about a draft from their table being too near the door, or wanting to send back their entrée because their zucchini wasn't breaded after they'd specified the meal was to be gluten free. "Look, I think we're all tired and a little cranky right now," she said. "No one's at their best right now. Let's all go get some rest and sleep on it. We can text to clarify plans later in the day."

Neither woman seemed very happy with her words, but they both accepted them, albeit with some under-the-breath mumbling. So, the once bright and merry party broke up, and Téa found herself back at her hotel room. Alone again.

"Just me and my pillow," she muttered, but she couldn't really complain. There was no one else she wanted to spent time with more, after all.

* * *

She woke up a little over two hours later, groggy and mussed, but with Serenity's odd behavior still weighing down on her. "I guess I'd better go after all if she's going to make such a big deal about it," Téa said to herself, but deep down, she knew it wasn't good enough. She doubted Mai was going to capitulate so easily, and she had a sinking suspicion that Serenity was just going to harp on Mai's absence all night long if the blonde didn't go. And what about the others? Was she haranguing everyone this way or just her and Mai?

Téa grabbed her phone and shot Joey a text. **Hey, what's up with Ser & the Xmas tree thing? She's really worked up about it.**

While she waited for a response, she checked her messages. Half a dozen "Happy Thanksgiving" messages from friends and coworkers, a passive-aggressive text from her mother hoping that she had a pleasant time visiting a bunch of her old high school friends instead of her blood relatives—real attitude of gratitude there—a bunch of Black Friday sales alerts, a desperate plea to trade shifts from a hapless waitress who hadn't bothered to schedule her time off in advance—Téa was glad she was out of town; she wasn't falling on that sword—and a form rejection from that Swan Lake audition. Nothing from Evan. Of course there wasn't. Not that she had been hoping there would be something. She didn't want to hear from him. She didn't.

The phone chirped.

It was Joey, texting her back. **Whatta mean the Xmas Tree thing? What did she tell u?**

Wow, he seemed kind of worked up about it too. Puzzled, Téa wrote: **That she wanted us all 2 b there. Didn't say why.**

 **Ok**

A smiley face accompanied the pithy text. Téa arched an eyebrow, confused by the reaction. That was it?

 **I don't get it, tho,** she sent back. **Why do we need to come?**

 **Just come,** Joey's next text said. **It will b grate!**

A hefty sprinkling of grinning faces, Christmas trees, and snowflakes followed the word "grate." Téa made a face. What was going on with these Wheeler siblings? Were they part of some kind of Christmas cult? Why couldn't they just say what was so dang important about the stupid Christmas tree lighting?

 **Idk,** she wrote back. **Flight leaves 5 tmw**

 **Téa, u got 2 come! U can't miss it!**

 **Miss what?** She wondered for the hundredth time. Watching a slightly larger than average tree be illuminated by a couple of strings of tiny colored light bulbs? Drinking watery, lukewarm hot chocolate with no marshmallows? Standing out in the cold—not that Domino ever got that cold compared to NYC—and listening to lame speeches and bad singing? What exactly was she missing out on?

 **Mai didn't seem very happy about it** , she added. She wondered if Serenity had told him that, or if Mai had told him that herself.

Her phone pinged frantically.

 **?**

 **What do u mean?**

 **Not happy?**

With a sigh, Téa picked up the phone and typed a reply.

 **What I said. She seemed pissed.**

 **She wanted to drink wine and take a bath**

 **…**

 **…**

 **…**

 **…**

 **She said she wasn't comin?**

"Joey, even you can't be this dense," Téa said out loud, even though he wasn't there to hear her frustration. She was half inclined to shove her phone under her pillow and go back for round two of napping. Or maybe take Mai's advice, order some wine, and run a nice bath. Add in one of those cheesy romance novels, and it would have been the kind of perfect relaxation fantasy she had always been trying to achieve on her college breaks. Too bad she hadn't had any money for booze or the time to sit and soak in a bubble bath between working all of her side jobs and dealing with her family. And then there'd been Evan, who couldn't hear the words "bubble bath" without taking it as some kind of invitation. The man hadn't understood the concept of alone time.

And that sure stabbed harder than she'd expected.

Shoving aside her stupid ex, she turned her attention back to the current drama consuming her life, as utterly ridiculous as it seemed. **I don't think she wants to come,** she wrote. **Why is that bad?**

 **She HAS 2 come!**

 **VERY IMPORTANT**

 **You can't make her come,** Téa wrote back, annoyed now. **Why don't you just tell her why you want her to come?**

And me, she thought. Tell me too.

 **…**

 **…**

 **I cant do that**

Téa rolled her eyes.

 **Why not?**

 **Reasons**

Téa was about to toss her phone in frustration, when the next text came through. There were no words. There was just a string of… hearts? And huge grinning faces? And…

"Oh." She suddenly felt stupid. And very, very, petty.

She sent back a huge grinning face of her own and a thumbs up. **I'll get her there** , she wrote, Somehow.

* * *

Seto hadn't been able to get his conversation with Ed Stuart out of his mind. He'd stayed up for hours after the call, checking sales' figures, prepping for next week's meetings, but mostly stewing about what the publicist had said. And, he had to admit it, browsing a few of the seedier fansites. Okay, he'd known he had fansites. He was a celebrity, of course he did. Even that mutt, Wheeler, had fansites. (No, he really didn't want to be thinking about Wheeler or his fansites at all after some of the things he'd read last night)

He hadn't wanted to know. He still wished he didn't know. But, if this stuff was leaking from the dark corners of the internet to the extent that his own publicist felt the need to bring it up, it was clearly out of control. He'd known that last night, which was why he'd agreed to Ed Stuart's plan. He'd hoped, however, that he would wake up with a clearer head and some brilliant scheme of how to handle the situation that didn't involve trotting around to a bunch of parties with some arm candy. Instead, he only felt more weighed down and even less sure if Ed's plan was even going to work at all.

After all, even the publicist had been unsure about just how Seto was going to get a date. Which, he supposed, ought to be a massive slap to his ego. After all, he was Seto Kaiba, young, handsome, self-made billionaire, with a fairly impressive reputation both professionally and in the realm of Duel Monsters. He wasn't Elon Musk, but he was pretty damn close, with none of the hipster baggage. He'd also never had a girlfriend, though, so there was that.

His mouth twisted. That sounded so very pathetic. Or gay, which is where the fansites got their grist from, he supposed. But really it was a function of time, which relationships tended to be a huge drain of it. The truth was, he simply had his priorities in order. There was Mokuba, the company, and Duel Monsters. There wasn't any time or room for anyone or anything else. Besides, he had chatted up—and done more than chat with—some pretty faces early on, back when the novelty of being CEO of KaibaCorp still fizzed in his head like champagne, and he'd found them to be exactly that: pretty faces with not much going on behind them.

He didn't judge them, not too much anyway. He'd learned a long, long time ago, that there were very few people that could keep up with him intellectually. There was a wider pool of people that didn't appall him with their stupidity every time they opened their mouths, but it was still pretty small. Long legs and perky breasts were great, but not worth subjecting himself to that for.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Mokuba inquired, dropping onto the leather sofa beside him.

Seto almost choked. "Just a problem with the company," he muttered, smoothly enough.

Mokuba frowned. "What problem? Didn't we have good sales last night?"

"No, the sales figures are fine," Seto assured him. "It's just a thing with the PR firm."

"Oh." Mokuba made a face. "Ugh."

"Yeah," Seto agreed. He got up from the sofa. "They want me to attend the Christmas tree lighting tonight."

"At the Rockefeller Center?"

"No." Seto smiled, a little grimly. "I'm sure they'd be happy to see me attend that one too, but I believe they meant the one here in Domino."

"Oh." Mokuba considered this for a moment. "Well, it definitely won't be as exciting as the one in New York, but I guess you'll be a much bigger deal there."

Seto blinked at him.

Mokuba shrugged. "I mean, there's tons of celebrities at the Rockefeller one, aren't there? Like, real celebrities, movie stars and singers, and people like that."

A grin tugged at the corner of Seto's mouth. So he wasn't a real celebrity, huh? Well, he could live with that. The question was, could Ed Stuart?

"But in Domino, you're basically it as far as celebrities go. Sure, the mayor will be there, but nobody cares about him, not even the people who live here. Maybe Yugi will show up, but he hasn't dueled in public in years, so his star's pretty faded. Anyway, you're sure to get at least some local coverage, and it might just get picked up regionally. It's a nice, soft focus story, isn't it? Hometown Christmas?"

Seto stared at him and shook his head. "When did you get so PR-savvy?" He tousled Mokuba's mop of black hair.

"Eh, when you become vice-president of a major corporation when you're eight years old, it's either sink or swim." Mokuba laughed. "Plus, I gotta work the system, so I can bank all this positive PR now when I'm young, cute, and innocent, so that people cut me some slack when I'm seventeen, my face looks like pepperoni pizza, and I'm going to rehab for cocaine addiction."

"That is not happening," Seto told him grimly.

"Which part? Because I know your skin has always been as smooth as a marble sculpture, but I'm not sure I got that gene."

Seto shook his head. "Stay off the drugs, kid. Otherwise, it's going to be prison, not rehab, for you."

"Harsh." Mokuba hopped off the sofa. "How about if I just drink some vodka-spiked punch at a party and crash a Ferrari?"

"That's it, you're never learning to drive." Seto glanced up at the grandfather clock. Looked like it was time to get ready. What did you wear to something like this? Was plaid flannel _de rigeour_? Screw it, he was just going with a trenchcoat.

"Haha, joke's on you. Roland already taught me," Mokuba replied. "So what time's this tree lighting ceremony?"

"Starts at 5:30," Seto replied. "I was just about to go get ready."

"Yeah, I should probably do that too. What I am supposed to wear? Plaid? Ugly sweater? I'm guessing a Santa suit would be over the top."

"What are you supposed to wear?"

Mokuba snorted. "Yeah. I know the cameras are supposed to be zoomed in on you, but I'm pretty sure they can spare a few clicks for someone as cute and innocent as me."

Seto looked hard at him. "You really want to go?"

"Well, it's not exactly the top of my bucket list or anything, but sure, why not." Mokuba glanced up at him. "I figure if you have to go, I may as well go too and support you. Besides, Christmas tree lightings are a family thing, aren't they?"

Seto hesitated. The things Ed Stuart had alluded to and the things he had seen on the Internet were still lodged like an awful splinter in his mind. He didn't want to provide any grist for their rumor mills. But he'd be damned if he'd start cutting his brother out of his life for the sake of their filthy minds. "Fine. Come if you want to."


	3. A Lot Like Christmas

There was actually a better crowd for the Christmas tree lighting than Téa expected. Her memories of the occasion had been mostly focused on performing, but she seemed to recall the crowd being pretty sparse. However, it was only just after 5:20 and the town square was already nearly half-full. Pretty impressive, considering there was probably about an hour of padding—speeches, songs, dance performances, hand bell choirs, etc.—before the main event, and most everyone here had to know it.

Téa also had to admit that the town square looked beautiful. Garlands were wrapped around every lamp post and the pillars of the town hall. Swags of greenery hung from the balconies that overlooked the square. Red ribboned wreaths hung on almost every door and window. The library had a display on its front lawn of an igloo made of books. Okay, they probably weren't real books. In fact, considering they were huge, stacked outdoors in the elements, and dripping with fake snow, Téa could say that they almost definitely weren't real books. Still, the igloo looked very cool, and the rest of the square had a cozy, almost old fashioned feel to it. It might not have been something straight out of a Victorian wonderland or a greeting card, but it had an undeniable charm about it. Téa found herself smiling.

"You're not about to start singing, are you?" Mai complained.

Téa's smile widened. "Would you prefer 'Silver Bells' or a reprise of 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas'?"

Mai rolled her eyes, but her expression softened a little. Téa knew she was here under duress—she'd had to call Mai up, remind her that Serenity was a child of divorce and frantically clutching to reminders of the happier times of her earliest childhood—sorry, Serenity, but desperate times, right?—and remind her also of their friendship and everything that she owed both Serenity and herself. She'd managed to twist Mai's arm enough to get her to show up, but she definitely wasn't happy about it.

On the plus side, she was looking fantastic. Her hair was glossy, falling in perfectly smooth waves, her skin was practically glowing, and her makeup was perfect. Guess there was something to the whole "beauty sleep" theory after all. She looked gorgeous—so gorgeous Téa had actually wondered if she'd figured things out on her own before Téa'd realized how grumpy she was about showing up—but not really very Christmas-y.

"Purple's not really a seasonal color, you know," Téa teased her.

"Hmm, maybe not, but it's my color, and that's much more important." Mai ran her eyes up and down Téa's outfit in appraisal. Téa'd kept it simple—this wasn't really about her, was it?—in dark wash jeans and a red plaid button-down, with a cream-colored scarf to complete the look. "Red's not really yours, though, is it?"

Téa scowled at her. "I know you'd rather be spending the night in, but you don't need to be catty, Mai." She plucked at the bottom hem of her button-down. "I kind of like it," she muttered defensively.

"Kind of like it?" Mai arched an eyebrow. "Hon, life is way too short to wear anything you're not crazy about. I mean like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton crazy about."

"They got divorced," Téa pointed out. "Twice."

"Nuance." Mai brushed a stray lock of her shoulder. "Besides, Téa, what you really mean is that there's no way you would wear that outfit in New York for anything other than eating takeout and watching Netflix, so at least you're getting some wear out of it."

Téa gritted her teeth. She'd forgotten what a bitch Mai could be on a bad day. Still, she was determined not to fight about it. "There's actually a lot of hipsters in New York, and casual's an in look these days," she said brightly. "Sure, it's not what I'd wear to an audition, but I'm not auditioning for anything today. Besides, it's festive."

"Festive." Mai looked like she'd just bitten into a lemon. "Just a word to excuse bad wardrobe decisions on the calendar."

Hoo boy. "Is that eggnog over there?" Téa gestured to a table in front of the bank. "Gotta go get me some of that." Okay, so it most likely wouldn't be spiked, not at a family event like this, but a girl could dream, right? Besides, there was also coffee at the same station, and if she couldn't have liquor, she was definitely going to need some caffeine.

* * *

If having to admit to his publicist that he'd never had a girlfriend had caused Seto to question his social skills, the mayor of Domino was doing an excellent job of boosting his confidence. The man was behaving as if he'd never had another conversation with another human being before. Spittle flew from his mouth as he spewed overly loud and overly cheerful words, words that were distinctly lacking in any sensible content. "Such a thrill… so glad you could join us on this very merry evening." The mayor chortled, apparently in delight at his own word play in rhyming "very" and "merry."

The mayor was a hefty man, squeezed into a suit that had probably fit just fine five years ago when it was new, and despite the late November chill, sweat was already beading on his pasty forehead. His hands were also clammy, which Seto unfortunately had plenty of first hand experience with. He'd grabbed Seto's hand and pumped it vigorously no less than five times in the course of a seven minute conversation, which was five times more than Seto would have preferred.

"Well, thank you for your kind words, Mr. Mayor," he said stiffly. He could practically feel Ed Stuart's invisible eyes peering over his shoulder, and he was pretty sure Mokuba had actually hissed "Be nice," under his breath at him. "Now, if you don't mind, my brother and I would like to look around for a little bit before the ceremony begins."

"Of course, of course!" The mayor gave him a hearty clap on the shoulder. Seto wasn't sure if the resulting creak was his bones giving way or the mayor's suit ripping. "Let me know if you want us to deputize an elf to give you a private tour!"

Seto blinked. Did he mean that literally, or was that some horrific double entendre? He forced himself not to even glance in the direction of the pretty high school girls who were dressed as elves for Santa's big appearance. Be literal. Please be literal. Maybe his mind was still in the gutter from trawling through those awful fansites. He looked over at Mokuba. The kid's eyes were as big as saucers. Not just him then.

As quickly as they could, Seto and Mokuba slipped away from the mayor and joined the crowd. That wasn't exactly Seto's favorite thing either, with the high volume of sticky, shouting children running here, there, and everywhere, parents yelling after them, bored teenagers milling around, and senior citizens clogging up space with their incredibly slow walking. Still, no one tried to grab his hand, so that was a positive.

Mokuba, however, seemed to be enjoying all the bustle and commotion. He kept looking around to admire the decorations and see all the various stations. He stopped at one table to accept a candy cane, which he promptly stuck in his mouth—the mystery of the sticky kids solved—and then at another table to enter his name in a drawing for an iPad.

"You _have_ an iPad," Seto reminded him as they walked away. "It's not even six months old. And if you wanted another one, you could just buy one. You have a salary. A six-figure salary, I might add."

Mokuba shrugged. "It's not about _getting_ the iPad. It's about winning one."

They continued strolling around the town square. Actually, "strolling" was probably the wrong word. Seto was trotting briskly—except that he had to constant check his stride to weave through the crowds and keep pace with Mokuba—and Mokuba was practically skipping as he bobbed from table to table.

"Hot chocolate!" he shouted gleefully, spotting a table across the way. "Can we go get some, Seto?"

For a second, as Mokuba beamed up hopefully at him, Seto found himself staring at that scrawny little boy who'd clutched his hand as they walked into that orphanage all those years ago. Something inside his chest twisted painfully. "Of course you can go get some hot chocolate if you want," he muttered. "I'd get some coffee if I wasn't positive it'd be the cheap supermarket crap."

He found himself getting some anyway, in a styrofoam cup, no less. What the hell. It was warm, and it gave him something to do. If he didn't want to stay something to all the idiots who kept coming over to chat with him, he could take a sip of coffee. It probably wouldn't deter the most enthusiastic, like the mayor, but at least it was a line of defense.

All they had was supermarket brand powdered creamer. He grimaced, but the idea of drinking this cheap brew black was just as appalling. He didn't think he wanted to savor the nuances of these flavors. Gingerly, he tapped the bottom of the container of creamer, trying to sprinkle just enough of the stuff into his cup to mask the bitterness of the coffee. He grabbed a packet of sugar, tore it open, and dumped the contents into the cup. The liquid was perilously close to the rim of the cup. Cursing under his breath, he reached for a stirrer.

Just at that moment, someone collided into his shoulder. Hot coffee splashed into the air, splattering over his arm and all across the table.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" a female voice exclaimed breathlessly. A familiar female voice.

Seto turned around. It was Tea Gardner. From the deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, she had just recognized him too. "Kaiba?" She sounded absolutely horrified.

"Nice to see you again," he said dryly.

"It was a complete accident, I swear," she was saying, wringing her hands and looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. "There was this little kid running around, and I..." She shook her head, as if realizing she was babbling. "It doesn't matter. Um, let me help you." She cast her eyes around desperately and practically dived on a stack of nearby napkins. In a flurry of motion, she was dabbing at the tablecloth-soaked through, but fortunately it was already pine green, so it wasn't that catastrophic-dabbing at his arm, even dabbing at the nearly-empty styrofoam cup, as though that could possibly do any good.

Kaiba jerked away. "Give it a rest, Gardner." He hadn't exactly meant to snarl the words, but his patience was at a low at the moment.

She dropped her hand as if he had burned her. "I'm so, so, sorry," she said again. She seemed unable to bring her eyes up to look at his face. In fact, as she spoke, her non-napkin-holding hand flew up to cover her face. "Oh, I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe I just did that. And your white trenchcoat..."

Seto looked down. The trenchcoat was sleeveless, so he had thought that the damage had been confined to the black turtleneck. But no, the left side of his coat had brown splatters down its length. Great. So much for Ed Stuart's photo ops. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone. He'd have preferred to use his communicator, but this wasn't a KC event, so he didn't have a communications team active on this occasion. Waste of company money. He sent Roland a terse text. Need new outfit. Send to town square ASAP. Blue trench, black turtleneck.

Tea was still babbling like a lunatic. "I am such an idiot."

True, but that was hardly to blame for the coffee, now was it. It also wasn't remotely helpful, but at least she wasn't assaulting him with a napkin.

"I was trying to help," she protested. "I wasn't assaulting you. I was dabbing." She made a face. "Not that kind of dabbing."

He'd said that out loud? Great. Rubbing a hand across his forehead, he said, "My team will send in a change of clothes, Tea. Maybe you should be more worried about this table than about me."

A sort of relieved smile crossed her face. "Well, the table doesn't exactly have a temper for me to get on the bad side of," she pointed out. "But you're actually a lot calmer about this situation than I would have expected. Thanks."

"Throwing a fit isn't going to get the coffee stains out of my clothing," he said dryly. "I'll have Roland send you the dry cleaning bills."

"Of course you will," she sighed. Then, she smiled. "I have to say, I'm surprised to see you here. Not exactly your scene, is it? How are you? And how's Mokuba? I assume he's around here somewhere. It's been too long."

She said it as if they were old friends, as if it was expected that they would have kept in touch through the years, as if she expected now that they would chat, catch up, reminisce about the good old days. He frowned at her. "I'm fine," he said tersely.

She nodded brightly, as if he had just given a synopsis of the past four years. "The company certainly seems like it's doing well. I see the billboards in New York. Not much news about you, though." She wasn't the only one pointing that out lately. "You look good, though."

So did she, he had to admit. She still had that figure, slender despite those generous curves, even if she was more covered up than her high school days. Still, he'd bet that those long legs were just as lean and toned under those jeans as in the days when she'd flaunted them in shorts and tiny skirts. He pulled his gaze up to her face. Makeup was heavier than he remembered, but it didn't look bad. She was still a very attractive girl. Had she and Yugi ever started dating? Why the hell not?

That probably wasn't the best thing to ask, even if she had initiated the whole catch-up session. "New York?" he asked instead, arching an eyebrow.

She flushed. "Yeah, I've been living in the city for a while now. Full-time ever since I graduated from Juilliard."

"Juilliard?" He had to admit, he was impressed, even if that was a pretty clumsy name-drop. "You're a musician?"

"Dancer," she corrected. She looked a little surprised, as if she expected him to know this already. He didn't see how. It wasn't as though she'd been doing pirouettes or something during Yugi's duels. Although he supposed that did help explain her physique.

"Ah," he said.

She looked down again. "Not that I've been doing all that much dancing since I graduated," she admitted. "I mean, I've been in a couple of choruses, and I did a brief stint with a contemporary dance company, but mostly it's been waitressing. Not very glamorous." She gave an embarrassed laugh. "Not that you can relate, of course. With your billion-dollar corporation and all."

No, he really couldn't relate. Money had been the easy part, ever since the orphanage days. Even back then, in that black pit of misery, the problem really hadn't been money. The place got enough of it, but the fat cats spent it all on themselves instead of the children they were supposed to be taking care of. No, what he'd lacked back then was the same thing he was always chasing. _Power._ It always came back to that. The power to determine your own destiny.

"Sorry, I'm babbling," Tea said. "And I'm boring you. And all of this is on top of the fact that I spilled coffee all over you. I am really terribly sorry about that, you know."

"I know. You've said so. Repeatedly."

"Right, sorry. I mean..." she winced. "Say hi to Mokuba for me." She glanced around, but whether she was looking for his brother or an exit out of this conversation, Seto couldn't say. "Maybe I'll run into him before the lighting ceremony's over. Only not literally, I hope."

She scurried off. Seto watched her go, bemused. That had been... unexpected. And surprisingly entertaining.

As Tea Gardner disappeared into the crowd, the wheels in his head began to turn... And once the wheels in Seto Kaiba's head started turning, they didn't stop until they had produced an idea that was pure genius.


	4. All I Want For Christmas

"Oh my gosh," Tea wailed as she screeched to a halt in front of Serenity. The redhead was busying admiring a pine cone wreath for sale at a vendor table. Tristan was by her side, but he seemed far more interested in the girl than the handicrafts on display "I just ran into Kaiba."

"Really?" Serenity looked up from the wreath. "Huh, I'm surprised he would come to something like this? Did he say something to you?" She frowned. "You seem awfully agitated."

"You don't understand." Téa hands were fluttering around like hyperactive butterflies. "I ran into him. Literally."

Serenity's eyes widened, a sympathetic expression dawning over her face, but Tristan was cracking up. "You ran into him? Did you knock him over? Please tell me you knocked him over."

"I kind of splashed coffee all over him," she admitted. Her face was still burning from that whole embarrassing incident and the awkward conversation that had ensued.

"What?"

Téa recounted the events, much to Tristan's delight and Serenity's sympathetic embarrassment. "He was wearing this white trench coat thing, too. _White._ And I got coffee all over it."

Serenity pressed a hand over her mouth. "Oh no!"

Tristan chortled. "Don't lose any sleep over it, Téa. Rich Boy'll probably have a new one delivered by drone in less than five minutes."

"He did say his team would handle it," she admitted.

"His team?" Tristan echoed. He rolled his eyes. "Sounds like Kaiba, alright."

"Are you okay?" Serenity's soft hazel eyes crinkled in concern. "He didn't rip into you too badly, did he? I'm sure he was annoyed…"

That was classic Serenity, wanting simultaneously for everyone to be kind to each other and to be as gracious and understanding as possible when they weren't. Téa didn't think she'd ever heard her utter a spiteful word. But this time, there was no need for her cooing concern. "Actually, he was surprisingly chill. I thought he was going to be furious… and he wasn't happy, that's for sure. But he barely even made any sarcastic comments. Just a half-hearted dig at my intelligence."

"Losing his edge," Tristan said with satisfaction.

"Actually, it was more like he was preoccupied. I guess he had so much on his mind that even someone knocking a cup of coffee all over him didn't crack the top ten list."

"I can guess the list," Tristan said. He ticked them off on his fingers. "Money, money, being the best there is, money, Mokuba, money, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, money, beating Yugi, and money."

"Stop it." Serenity nudged his shoulder. "You're the worst." But she was laughing, and so was Téa.

"It might have been something like that," she admitted. "Except, come on, 'beating Yugi?' They haven't even dueled in over two years."

"Yeah, but you know he still fantasizes about it. All The Time."

"Ick, you don't have to make it sound so dirty, Tristan."

"Dirty?" Joey's voice cut through the cheery buzz of the crowd. "What's Tristan saying to my sister that's so dirty?"

Serenity giggled, blushing, while Tristan spluttered, "We were just talking about Kaiba."

"You were talking dirty about Kaiba?" That was Mai, the sultry lilt to her voice working overtime. "I always miss the best conversations."

"What? No! We-" Tristan's blustered response was all but drowned out by Serenity's uncontrolled laughter. Téa just grinned cheekily, her earlier embarrassment completely drowned by Tristan's. She might even have thrown Tristan a little further under the bus by repeating exactly what he'd been saying about Kaiba, except Yugi and Rebecca had appeared, and she decided that wouldn't be such a hot idea.

"They're about to light the tree," Yugi said. His eyes were as wide and sparkling as a child's. "Aren't you guys coming?"

They all hustled to find places in the ring of spectators rapidly solidifying around the giant Christmas tree in the square. On a rickety-looking stage trimmed with red and gold garlands, a choir of elementary kids was warbling their way through "Away in a Manger." On a row of folding chairs behind them sat the mayor of Domino, his wife, a thin, fish-faced woman wearing too much make-up, another woman Téa didn't recognize, and… Kaiba?

She flinched reflexively, before realizing he probably couldn't see her in this crowd. Looked like his team had come through, since he'd traded out his coffee-stained clothes for a fresh black turtleneck and a royal blue trenchcoat. It brought out the color of his eyes, but the white one had looked better, she thought, feeling guilty. Mokuba sat beside him, in much more festive attire. His black hair, long and messy as ever, spilled over the collar of his dark red coat, half-hiding the black and pine-green plaid scarf he wore. Kaiba could take some style notes from him, actually. Besides the hair. Téa winced to think of the older Kaiba with a mane like that.

The kids were shuffling off the stage, and now a strings trio – violin, viola, and cello—was launching into "Carol of the Bells." They were surprisingly pretty decent, and Téa clapped enthusiastically when the performance was over.

Finally, all the preamble was done, and the mayor heaved himself out of his seat and made his way to the microphone stand. "Thank you all for coming," he boomed into the mic. He launched into a speech about Domino's "Christmas and community spirit," and its "merry and bright future."

"Is he up for re-election or something?" Téa whispered to Yugi.

He shrugged. "I try to stay out of politics."

At last, the speech was over, and the mayor handed a giant circuit board-looking thing that looked like a rejected prop from a 90s Nickelodeon movie over to Kaiba. With an enormous smile, he announced that, "Domino's foremost citizen and favorite son, Seto Kaiba," would be officially lighting the tree. Guess he was hoping for a fat campaign contribution.

To the mayor's surprise, Kaiba handed the contraption to Mokuba. "Fire away, kid."

A grin lit Mokuba's face. "Let's have a countdown to Christmas, folks," he called out, loud enough to picked up by the mics.

The crowd obligingly chanted "10…9… 8…" When they reached "1," Mokuba hit the button, and the lights on the giant tree burst into life. As the crowd applauded, Téa let her eyes drift half-shut, until the tree was a haze of glowing stars. _It really is beautiful,_ she thought.

As her eyes opened, Joey loudly cleared his throat. "Man, Christmas sure is the greatest time of the year," he announced loudly to no one in particular. Everyone in the group turned to look at him, as well as a few of the strangers around them. "Yep, seeing such a beautiful display is… inspiring," he continued in the same too-loud voice. "Makes you think about lots of stuff. Like what's really important in life."

"Joey, what are you doing?" Mai hissed at him, as more and more people started to stare.

In response, he got to one knee. Mai's hands flew to her face.

"Mai, I'm just going to say it. I love you. Nothing's ever going to change that. There was a time when I didn't even know if I was ever going to see you again, and…" his face tightened. "…I don't want to ever go through that again. I don't ever want to be apart from you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He dug into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a jewelry box. "So, will you—"

"Yes!" Mai interrupted before he could get another word out. "Yes, of course I'll marry you!" Half-laughing, half-crying, she threw herself at him, almost knocking the ring box out of his hands as she kissed him.

The people around them cheered. Serenity clapped her hands in delight, smiling for all she was worth, and Tristan let out a wolf-whistle. "Way to go, Joe!" he shouted.

When they came up for air, Joey had the biggest grin in the world on his face, and Mai's whole face was glowing. "You really mean it?" Joey asked breathlessly.

"Do you want me to kiss you again to prove it?" Mai laughed.

"Definitely. Uh, I mean, not that I don't believe you, but you haven't even seen the ring."

Mai pecked him on the cheek. "I don't care about the ring, Joey. I love you. It doesn't matter if it's a diamond ring or a plastic decoder ring." She kissed him again, and then pulled back to look at his face. "It _is_ a diamond ring, right?"

Grinning, Joey opened the box. Mai gave a cry of delight as he slipped it onto her finger. She held it up to watch it sparkle in the light of the Christmas tree. Another star, Téa thought. Her chest ached with joy as she watched them. Incandescently happy. As they deserved to be.

Why hadn't she been able to find a love like that? Téa bit her lip and tried to push the self-pitying thought away. It stuck, though, like a turkey bone scraping the back of her throat. The harder she tried to swallow it away, the deeper it stabbed.

The rest of her friends were crowding around the couple, congratulating them and admiring the ring. Joey was trying to launch into an off-key rendition of "All I Want for Christmas," and Mai was doing her best to stop him, in between fits of giggles. Téa shook off her melancholy and went over to join them.

She hugged Mai tightly. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you guys!"

Mai's eyes twinkled like candles had been lit behind them. "You knew, didn't you?" she whispered. "Is that why you pulled out all the stops to get me here?"

Téa winked. "Guilty as charged."

"Okay, okay, what's all this commotion over here?"

Téa looked over to see Mokuba Kaiba striding towards them, arms crossed, but a smile on his face. A few paces behind him was his older brother. Téa looked away quickly, trying not to cringe. At least she was pretty sure she could avoid crashing into him this time around.

Joey stopped mid-note, mercifully cutting off the warbling end of "yooooouuuuuu." "You got something to say to me?" he demanded.

Téa and Yugi exchanged glances. Not a fight, the kind of stupid, embarrassing squabble that seemed to happen spontaneously whenever Kaiba and Joey were in the same vicinity. Not now. Yugi cleared his throat and started to move between them, but it was too late. Kaiba was already speaking.

"I just thought someone might be murdering cats over here, but it turns out the victim was just a subpar song."

Mai's nostrils flared. Téa caught her breath. Tristan clenched his fist. Serenity promptly laid a hand on his shoulder.

Joey chuckled. At the sound, the tension dissipated. "Normally, I'd have to clobber ya for a crack like that, but nothing can dampen my spirits right now." He took Mai's hand and lifted it so that the diamond caught the light. "This lovely lady just agreed to marry me!"

"That's awesome!" Mokuba cheered. His smile got bigger. "I thought that was what was going on over here! I'm so happy for you guys. It's great to see you all!"

"Aw, thanks man," Joey said. "Good to see you too."

"Didn't really think this was your kind of thing," Tristan put in, much more agreeable now that Joey was taking everything in stride. "But I guess it's more fun when you get to be the guy lighting the thing up."

"Yup," Mokuba laughed. "Although that was kind of a last minute thing."

They chatted briefly with Mokuba before he started taking his leave. "Good to see you," Yugi said again. "We're having a little engagement party for Mai and Joey at the game shop after this, and I'm sure…" he trailed off, glancing at the couple.

"Oh yeah, you're definitely welcome," Joey said. "Your big brother can come too if he has to…I mean if he wants to."

Mai put her hand on her shoulder. "Hon, let me just clue you in that this is not how our wedding invitation list is going to work." She smiled at the Kaiba brothers. "But you are welcome. Both of you, of course."

"Thanks for the gracious invitation," Kaiba replied with just a hint of sarcasm flavoring the word gracious, "but I'm afraid we'll have to decline." His eyes flickered to Téa. "But if you could find a few moments to meet with me, Gardner, I have something I'd like to say to you."

Stunned, Téa stared at him. Her mouth hung open a bit, but no words came. No intelligible words anyway. "Uh…"

"If you'll come by my home office, we can talk in private. Shall we say 8 o' clock?" The words were a question, but his tone left no room for discussion. Téa nodded numbly. "Excellent."

Kaiba began to walk away, but stopped, and glanced back at Joey. "Oh, and, congratulations, Wheeler."


	5. Blue Winter

It was a few minutes 'til 8 when the Uber dropped her outside of Kaiba Manor. Téa walked briskly up to the gate. Kaiba didn't like to be kept waiting.

"What in the world was all of that about?" Yugi had wanted to know as soon as the billionaire had disappeared back into the crowd. "Why does Kaiba want to meet with you, Téa?"

Mai's eyes had danced. "Is this why you guys were talking dirty about Kaiba earlier?"

"No!" Téa had squealed. "I mean, we weren't… Oh why do I even bother?"

She pressed the comm button on the gate. "Téa Gardener to see Seto Kaiba." Personally, she thought it was way more likely that Kaiba was going to sue her for some obscenely large dry-cleaning bill than whatever salacious scenario Mai had cooked up in her brain.

The gate swung open, and Téa went up to the door. She'd barely reached it when it swung open. Inside was a tall, stiff-looking man with touches of gray in his peaked hair. "Roland?" she said uncertainly.

The man looked pleased and flustered. "Ms. Gardener! So pleased you remembered me. Please, come in at once."

The heels of her boots clicked against the polished marble floor. Her eyes darted around the spacious hall, taking in the crystal chandelier, the ornate vases, the velvet drapes. _More like a museum than a home._

"This way, Ms. Gardner." Roland lead her through the hall, to an another, narrower, hallway, to a large dark wood door, which he rapped on smartly. "Ms. Gardner to see you, Mr. Kaiba. As you requested."

After a moment, the door swung open. "Thank you, Roland," Kaiba said. "You may leave us." He nodded at Téa. "Come in, please."

He held the door open, and Téa stepped inside, suddenly feeling nervous. She'd never actually been alone in a room with Kaiba before, and this, his office, seemed like such a private space. It was obvious that this was where he truly lived. It wasn't just the mugs of coffee and empty plates scattered amid the stacks of papers on his desk, the framed picture of Mokuba, or the leather couch in the corner. It was the way he moved, comfortable in a way he hadn't been at the tree lighting ceremony, or even then he was in the dueling arena.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to come and speak with me here." He closed the door behind them with a barely audible click. The space inside the office, large as it was, seemed to shrink.

"I'm guessing it wasn't to offer me coffee," she joked, trying to cut the tension.

The corner of his lips tugged upwards. "Would you like some? I can have Roland fetch you an espresso."

It flashed through her head that she could probably rattle off the most complicated coffee order that came to mind, and it would be brought to her, as a matter of course, in just a minute or two. She ignored the impulse to test the theory, though. Caffeine was the last thing her already jittery nerves needed. She shook her head. "What did you ask me here for?" she said instead.

He took a step back, leaning against his desk. "I have a proposal for you."

"Interesting choice of words," she teased, "given the events of the night." Her thought flicked briefly, regretfully, to Mai and Joey and the rest of her friends. She should be with them tonight, celebrating.

"Not like that." He shook his head. "A business proposal. Of sorts."

"Of sorts?" Téa tilted her head. "I'm not a businesswoman, Kaiba. I'm just a dancer… and not a very successful one at that." Really, if she was anything, she was a waitress, but she had a little too much pride to blurt that out to him _again_ in twenty-hours. She cringed at the memory of their awkward run-in at the tree-lighting.

"I'm aware." He sighed. "I find myself in a situation where I need to attend a number of social events, for public relations reasons. For related reasons, it is necessary for me to bring a date to these events. It has struck me that you would be an ideal candidate." Téa frowned, confused, but Kaiba swept on. 'You would be compensated generously, of course. We would have to work out the details, but your services would be needed until shortly after the New Year."

It took a second for the words to sink in, for their meanings to click into place, and then…

 _"What?"_ Stunned, her eyes flew to his. They looked back into hers, steely blue and steady. "You're serious?"

His eyes narrowed. "Does it really sound like my idea of a joke, Gardner?"

"It sounds insane," she told him bluntly. "I mean, you just called me by my last name. You don't even _like_ me. And now you're telling me you want to date me?

"I want to _hire_ you," he corrected her. "To go on dates with me." He adjusted his stance awkwardly. "And I didn't say I didn't like you."

"Like an escort service." Téa gave him a Look. "And you _don't_ like me. We both know it. Why pretend otherwise?"

"Okay, fine. You're right. I don't like you." The words were flat, dismissive. "I don't like most people. But I know you."

 _I know you._ It was definitely faint praise to soften the offense of the offer—although she supposed that some people would have found it flattering. Téa pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to smooth out the unreality of the situation. Seto Kaiba was trying to hire her to go on dates with him? "Look, Kaiba, what are we even talking about? A rich guy like you, it can't be that hard to just get a real date, you know?"

He stiffened. "I didn't ask for your evaluation on my romantic prospects, Gardner. Nor do I want it."

Gardner, again. Well, he _had_ just admitted that he didn't like her. "I'm not trying to offend or pry or anything. I just think there has to be a better idea than… this."

"Believe me, I didn't arrive at this course of action on a whim. My actions are well-considered."

She stared at him, wondering if he was planning to fill her in on any of those "considerations." Apparently not.

"You didn't mention having a boyfriend during our conversation earlier."

She frowned, lost at the sudden change of topic. How'd he found out about Ethan, anyway? "Why would I have?" she shot back defensively.

It was his turn to frown. "I suppose I just assumed… is there a reason why this arrangement wouldn't be acceptable?"

She blinked. Then, her face cleared. Oh, they were still on the stupid escort thing. She bit her lip. "I'm single," she admitted, trying hard not to grit her teeth. It shouldn't feel like yanking a band-aid off raw, bleeding skin to say the words. It shouldn't. "And I'm guessing you are too, otherwise this conversation is even more messed up and pointless than I thought."

His mouth quirked fractionally. A smile? A frown? An itch in the back of his throat? "Right."

Right? That was all she got? "As your fake girlfriend, I'm going to need you to work on your communication skills."

"Does that mean you're taking the job?"

Was she? The words had tumbled past her lips without passing by her brain. She grimaced. "I really don't know, Kaiba. You are asking an awful lot of me, and you've been stingy with the details."

"I'm _offering_ an awful lot," he pointed out. "Or is waiting tables really all that lucrative these days?"

Téa felt like she'd been slapped. This is what being honest and vulnerable with Seto Kaiba got you. Apparently, all he could see was ammunition. The only real question was why she was remotely surprised.

"Right, " she muttered. She secured her purse strap over her shoulder and headed for the door. She might have had no choice but to put up with Kaiba's attitude when she was a high schooler, but she sure as hell had a choice now.

"Wait." Slim fingers caught her wrist. Téa froze, then turned to stare into eyes as cold and blue as the heart of winter. Her breath caught, and after a belated second, her eyes fell to the hand that held her fast.

"Don't go," he said quietly, dropping his hand and running it through his hair. He sighed. "I'm not trying to be difficult…"

"It just comes naturally?" Téa replied archly.

"So they tell me." An unexpected note of humor flavored his voice. "But you already knew that."

Téa smiled in spite of herself. She leaned against the edge of the leather couch. "Let just say I was willing to overlook your difficult personality for the moment. Just how many 'dates' are we talking about here?"

"It's under negotiation, but no more than twenty."

"Twenty?" She'd been thinking more like three. "Kaiba, there are barely even twenty days between now and Christmas!"

"I'm aware." He scowled. "Wasn't my idea."

And just who was it that could pull Kaiba's strings? "Never tell me Mokuba is behind this."

His mouth twitched again, and this time she was almost positive that it was a smile—or a tiny scrap of one. "My publicist," he said with a sigh.

Seto Kaiba, a slave to PR? Téa wanted to know more, but she had a suspicion there was a limit to how much she could get out of the man, and she had more important questions. "Er, what exactly are you expecting on these dates?"

He arched an eyebrow, and she felt the heat rise on her skin. Still, she refused to look away from his gaze. It was a valid question.

"I'm looking for a _social_ partner. Nothing more. Don't get so excited."

Téa resisted the urge to roll her eyes…or walk out the door. "Look, if you're actually serious about this, I'm going to need something more illuminating than a few arched eyebrows."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. If she wasn't so exasperated, Téa would have laughed out loud. "What do you need to know?"

"Everything," Téa sighed, more to herself than to him. Why was asking for details from this guy like trying to pry used gum of the bottom of your favorite pair of flats?

Kaiba cleared his throat. All of the sudden, he looked awkward. "Look, I need to go to all of these public events with a date, a female date, because apparently if I don't then people on the internet will draw the conclusion that I'd rather be with someone else."

She blinked at him, and then thought of Tristan's jokes earlier. He'd only _been_ joking, but then again, he actually knew Kaiba.

Kaiba moved on quickly, still obviously uncomfortable. "I simply think we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. You told me that you weren't having much success with your career. Having your name linked with a high-profile billionaire's in the tabloids could raise your profile." Téa hid a grin at the utterly unself-conscious arrogance laced into the phrase "high-profile billionaire."

"Believe it or not, chorus dancers aren't cast based on what billionaire's arm they've been draping themselves from recently," Téa told him dryly.

"Are you so sure?" he countered.

Téa rolled her eyes, but she wasn't through asking for details. "What kind of occasions are these? Black tie? Christmas casual? Ugly sweaters? Will there be dancing? Drinking? Public speaking?"

He threw her a look. "My publicist is going to love you."

Would he? Téa chewed her lower lip. Had Kaiba actually run this crazy plan by this guy? Of course, if he'd ordered Kaiba to go on all these Christmas dates, then this plan was probably his exact kind of crazy. Maybe he'd even told Kaiba to hire her?

She considered this, toying with the ends of her hair. Kaiba tilted his head. "What is it?"

"Did your publicist put you up to this?"

"To going to all these galas and tree-lightings and so forth?" Kaiba frowned. "I just told you he did. You didn't seriously think I'd want to waste my time that way?"

"No, I mean, asking me to be your date."

He shook his head. "I doubt Ed Stuart even knows who you are." Now it was his turn to look thoughtful. "Well, maybe. That man does have a nose for sniffing out information." It didn't sound like such a good thing, from his tone.

"It really just… came to you?" Téa asked again, skeptically. "To ask me something like this?" She ran her fingers absently over the buttery-smooth leather of the couch arm. "I mean, why?" There had to be dozens of supermodels and starlets willing to hang on Seto Kaiba's arm.

"We've been over this," he scoffed.

"No," she said, voice hardening and fingers digging too tightly into soft leather. "Tell me, _why?"_ Her eyes darted up to Kaiba's face, willing him to give her something besides cynical deflections.

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, but then his eyes met hers, and something in his expression changed. With a sigh, he uncrossed his arms. "I know what kind of person you are."

There was an odd kind of almost vulnerability in his face. Téa softened her tone, not wanting to chase it away. "And what kind of person am I?"

He sighed. "Really, it's the kind of person you're not. You're not the kind of person who will sell the juicy details of this conversation to the media for a quick buck. You're not the kind of person who will attempt to blackmail me to stop such a sale, not now, or when this whole thing is over. You won't try to steal my corporate secrets, get wasted at a high-society party, or treat Mokuba badly."

"In short, you trust me." She bit her lip. Suddenly, it seemed an enormous thing to be handed, Seto Kaiba's trust.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If you want to think of it that way, then fine. For a certain meaning of trust, then yes, I trust you."

 _I'm going to regret this, she_ thought as she collapsed onto the leather sofa. "Okay, what if I was willing to go on, say, a trial date?"


End file.
